by Stuart Weir
The Kambundji sisters
March 2025 was quite a month for two Kambundji sisters. Since you asked there are in fact 4 Kambundji sisters. Kaluanda (the eldest at 33) and Muswama (third) were both national level runners with Mujinga (now 32) and Ditaji (22) elite athletes. Father, Safuka, is from Congo and the girls’ mother Ruth is Swiss.
Mujinga has been running fast for several years – indoors and out. She reached two Olympic 100m finals (Tokyo and Paris) coming sixth in each. She was third in the 2019 World Championship 200m in Doha. She has won the 200m in the European Championships twice (2022 and 2024) as well as medalling at 100 in 2016 and 2022. Indoors she won the World title in Belgrade in 2022 in 6.96 as well as winning the European title in 2023 in 7.00.
Ditaji took bronze in the 2022 European Championship 100m hurdles in 12.74 and won the title two years later in 12.40. In 2023 she was 7th in the World sprint hurdles final.
Then came March 2025 in which – as we still play catch-up from COVID – there were European and World Indoor Champs just two weeks apart. At the Europeans in Apeldoorn, Netherlands Ditaje won the 60m hurdles in 7.67 with Mujinga coming second in the 60m sprint in 7.02. Then after a brief break in Switzerland it was off to Nanjing, China for the World Indoors. Mujinga won the 60m in 7.04, ironically slower than the time in the Europeans.
Skrzyszowska, POL, bronze, Apeldoorn2025, photo by Sona Maleterova
Ditaji won the European Indoor 60m hurdles in 6.67 for a European record and world lead. In Nanjing her 7.73 left her one hundredth of a second behind Devynne Charlton.
The relationship between the sisters was a point of interest after their races. After her win in the World Indoor final, Mujinga was asked if her win was intended to say to Ditaji “I’m still the big sister. I’m still in charge”. She laughed and said it was more “I have won my race now it’s your turn!” Mujinga explained how the sisters helped each other: “It’s so much nicer to travel with her. I always share a room with her at championships and it’s nice to have one of my best friends, my sister, with me. And then just sometimes to see her young, fresh approach. We are really similar but then really different because she’s 10 years younger and it’s just nice to see someone with more freshness. It’s just so motivating also for me to see her doing great things. It’s just so nice”.
Asked to elaborate on what she meant by “freshness” Mujinga said of Ditaji “I just think it’s like ‘just run and have fun, just enjoy it and just try to do your best’. I was also like this but I changed of course and I am 10 years older but it’s just nice to see how she’s a lot like me but also going her own way and doing a lot of things different. And she is lot better than I was 10 years ago, so I’m really, really proud.
In the next articles we will hear how the sisters viewed their achievements
